All About Space Issue 8 preview

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News, by Adam Smith

Explore the 2013 Space Race, amazing exoplanets, the great sights of Saturn and more!

Welcome to 2013, or more specifically, Space Race 2013. The Americans and Soviets might have had a good old tussle back in the 1960s, but that’s nothing compared to what’s coming up in the next 12 months. In issue 8 of All About Space (available from all good newsagents, the Imagine Shop and Great Digital Mags from 10 January) we run you through the four key areas of battle where different national and private space agencies are fighting for supremacy: the space tourism race, the corporate space race, the race back to the Moon and the race to deep space. Find out everything you’ll need to know to get you through the coming year in our cover feature, Space Race 2013.

Aside from space travel, another big area of news for the past few years has been exoplanets. Every month we seem to discover another new fascinating world, and we now know of hundreds in our surrounding neighbourhood in the galaxy. But which are the most amazing discovered so far, and why? Find out in our 10 Amazing Exoplanets feature this issue.

Elsewhere in the magazine we’ve got two awesome pieces of future technology for you to take a look at. First up are Anti-matter drives, the next-gen engines that will power us to the stars. Then, you’ll find out about Inflatable spacecraft and how they’ll allow us to maintain a presence in Earth orbit.

Another of our great features this issue is Pulsars Explained, explaining how these superdense stellar remnants shoot our beams of energy across millions of light years as they spin at thousands of times per minute.

In our stargazing section, our main feature this month is an article about 10 Great sights on Saturn. You’ll discover 10 reasons why this gas giant is one of the most beautiful and eye-catching planets in the Solar System.

If all that isn’t enough we’ve also got articles on the ESA’s new billion pixel space camera, an explanation on how the phases of the Moon work, an in-depth look at the ice giant Uranus and a first-hand account from the man who discovered Eris, the missing ‘planet’ in the Solar System.

Finally, as we went to print this issue we were saddened to hear that Sir Patrick Moore had passed away at the age of 89. We pay tribute to the great man himself, and take a look back at his career of astronomy, in our Heroes of Space article this month.